Fall River to honor veterans with a carnival during the July Fourth weekend

Wednesday

Jul 3, 2013 at 12:01 AMJul 3, 2013 at 3:04 AM

The city will be honoring veterans this July Fourth weekend with a three-day carnival at the old Laurel Lake School site.

The carnival will be called Fall River Celebrates Veterans and it will begin 6 p.m. on Friday with games, rides, food and musical entertainment. The festivities will continue Saturday and Sunday with musical performances by the Fly by Night and Exit 5 bands.

Brian Fraga

The city will be honoring veterans this July Fourth weekend with a three-day carnival at the old Laurel Lake School site.

The carnival will be called Fall River Celebrates Veterans and it will begin 6 p.m. on Friday with games, rides, food and musical entertainment. The festivities will continue Saturday and Sunday with musical performances by the Fly by Night and Exit 5 bands.

“I hope that we’re kicking off a new annual tradition here,” Mayor William Flanagan said Tuesday during a press conference at Government Center.

Rockwell Amusements, a Rhode Island company that organized April’s carnival in the Flint’s Lafayette Park, will be responsible for organizing Fall River Celebrates Veterans. Flanagan said the city is not spending any public money for the carnival.

Veterans and active-duty military personnel will be able to get free rides during the carnival, officials said.

A portion of the proceeds will go to benefit Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 486 in Fall River. The local VFW Post sponsors local youth sports and community organizations and raises money to help veterans and those wounded in combat.

“We work hard to support veterans and our post,” said Ron Tripp, president of the men’s auxiliary of VFW Post 486.

Flanagan said VFW Post 486’s leadership approached him about a year ago with the idea of having a carnival to raise money to help veterans.

“This weekend is all about the veterans,” Flanagan said.

The city’s Veterans’ Services office will also receive a donated 2012 Chrysler Series 200 automobile through the combined efforts of Carl’s Collision, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and the Recycled Rides Program.

The Veterans’ Services office currently has a 16-passenger van that it uses to transport veterans to and from medical appointments at the Veterans Affairs hospitals in Providence and Brockton.

“It’s going to allow us the opportunity to provide more services to veterans at a lesser cost,” Fall River Veterans Agent Raymond Hague said of the smaller vehicle. Hague added that the new car will also allow his department to have more localized services for veterans.

“I hope everybody enjoys their Fourth of July and we will continue our commitment to veterans here in the city of Fall River,” Hague said.

“These are a group of people that have done something for everyone in America,” Garcia said. “They were there so we could sleep at night in this wonderful country.”

State Rep. Alan Garcia, Enterprise Vice President and General Manager Jason M. Fowler and Fall River City Councilor David J. Dennis also spoke during Tuesday’s press conference.

The carnival will be held at the two-acre site of the former Laurel Lake School, which is bordered by Rhode Island Avenue and Orswell, Laurel and Aetna streets.

The festivities will begin a day after the July 4 fireworks, which are scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. Those who want to see the fireworks can do so from the city’s waterfront.

“It’s going to be a real fun family atmosphere,” Flanagan said, “And I encourage those families that are going stay local this weekend to go down and get as much they can out of it and have as much family fun as possible.”